ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP Atmos. Chem. Phys. 1680-7324 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-2-17-2002 Modelling the contribution of sea salt and dimethyl sulfide derived aerosol to marine CCN Yoon Y. J. 1 2 Brimblecombe P. 1 School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK Now at: Department of Experimental Physics, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland 14 01 2002 2 1 17 30 Copyright: © 2002 Y. J. Yoon 2002 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ This article is available from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/2/17/2002/acp-2-17-2002.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/2/17/2002/acp-2-17-2002.pdf

The concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in the marine boundary layer (MBL) was estimated from dimethyl sulfide (DMS) flux, sea salt (SS) emission, and aerosols entrained from the free troposphere (FT). Only under clean air conditions, did the nucleation of DMS derived sulfur (DMS CCN) contribute significantly to the MBL CCN. The accommodation coefficient for sulfuric acid mass transfer was found to be a very important parameter in the modeling the contribution of DMS to MBL CCN. The relationship between seawater DMS and MBL CCN was found to be non-linear mainly due to the transfer processes of sulfuric acid onto aerosols. In addition, sea salt derived CCN (SS CCN) and entrained aerosol from the FT (FT CCN) affected the MBL CCN directly, by supplying CCN, and indirectly, by behaving as an efficient sink for sulfuric acid. The SS CCN explained more than 50% of the total predicted MBL CCN when wind speeds were moderate and high. Sea salt and FT aerosol may often be more efficient sources of MBL CCN than DMS.